History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

In October 1930, 18-year old Muriel Angelus was out shopping and looking in the window of a jeweller’s in Kilburn High Road. Suddenly, a car drew up alongside and two men jumped out. They threw a dark cloth over her head, picked her up, and forced her into the back of the car, which sped off at high speed. The whole incident was over in seconds, and spectators were too dazed to raise the alarm. But if they had looked carefully, they might have spotted a camera across the road filming the event. In fact, this was an exciting scene from ‘Detective Lloyd’, the first talkie serial to be made in England. It was a collaboration between an American and British company and produced by Mutual Pictures, a subsidiary of Universal. Henry MacRae, in charge of serials at Universal, supplied the story which was developed into a 12-chapter serial. Macrae came from Hollywood and co-directed the film with American Ray Taylor and a British cast and crew. Scotland Yard collaborated, and it was filmed ...